Meet Jeffrey Dahmer’s Neighbor Glenda Cleveland, Whose Cry To The Police Left Unheard

Glenda Cleveland Remains Unheard…

Glenda Cleveland, Jeffrey’s next-door neighbor became a victim of the “Milwaukee Monster”, and was the first person to expose him as a serial killer. In Netflix’s new series, “Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story”, Glenda Cleveland hears some weird noises from the vent and asks Jeffrey, “I saw you go out in the dumpster and dump a whole bunch of bad meat, so the smell should be gone by now.”

Jeffrey responds, “Mm. Oh. I forgot, my tropical fish died, they get this disease, its called ich.” At that moment, Glenda knew something was wrong. Later, Glenda becomes the first person to report to the police countless times what had occurred in the flat, but her calls to the authorities went in vain.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports that Glenda made the first call on May 27th, 1991, when her daughter and niece were walking down the street. She narrated that they saw one kid, named Konerak Sinthasonphone (14) running away from Jeffrey while he was bleeding profusely. After several calls to the police, they responded to the situation.

However, Jeffrey stated to the authorities that the two were in a relationship and the police viewed it as a “domestic dispute”. He also revealed that Konerak was his 19-year-old boyfriend, but the police didn’t feel the need to cross-check his identity. As the police left, Dahmer injected hydrochloric acid into Konerak’s brain, and it finally proved fatal. The next day he dismembered his body and retained his skull. He did the same to another victim, Hughes on the same day. 

If the police had taken, Glenda’s words seriously, many innocent lives could have been saved. Dahmer was arrested in 1992 and was sentenced to a sixteenth term of life imprisonment. By then, the sex offender and cannibal had dismembered and murdered 17 men and boys.

However, Jeffrey Dahmer was killed in the prison by a fellow inmate, Christopher Scarver on November 28, 1994. On the said morning, he was found on the bathroom floor with extreme head wounds after being hit by a heavy metal bar. Many people viewed this as real justice as Jeffrey escaped the death penalty for his heinous crimes. FYI, Wisconsin abolished the death penalty in 1853.

Where Is Glenda Cleveland Now?

Niecy Nash discusses how this is a timeless story and the profound impact of what it meant to portray Dahmer neighbor, Glenda Cleveland: the brave woman who tried in vain to inform the authorities of Dahmer's insidious behavior and was ignored. 9/21 on @Netflix pic.twitter.com/sMbmawKnpr

— Ryan Murphy Productions (@ryanmurphyprod) September 16, 2022

Glenda Cleveland, viewed as one of the heroines in Jeffrey Dahmer’s case, played a major role in Jeffrey’s case, by making numerous calls to the police. If her voice would have been heard, 5 of the 17 victims of Jeffrey could have been saved. In the new series, “Monster”, Glenda’s role is played by Niecy Nash, and the series has given due credit to her efforts, something that wasn’t done before.

In an interview, Nash revealed how Cleveland deserves more respect for bringing him down. “She deserved way more than a little cheesy plaque in the bottom of a social hall somewhere. She deserved way more than the police to step in front of her and say, ‘Look what we did. Look what we tried to do,” Nash added.

As for Glenda, she passed away on December 24th, 2010 at 56. It has been reported that she was diagnosed with high blood pressure and heart disease. Glenda’s actions have been long forgotten by many, but this new series brings her name back into the light. What do you think about this brave lady? Some people really don’t need a uniform to be heroes, isn’t it?